Monochrome
by Artemis1000
Summary: On a mission, BB-8 runs into BB-9E and gets a painful reminder that some things are forever lost. BB-8/BB-9E


Notes: Written for perlaret for Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange. You said girl droids, I couldn't resist the temptation to take you up on girl droids! :) I hope you enjoy, and happy exchanging!

 **Monochrome**

BB-8 rolled back, her head dome shifted forward and she beeped her indignation.

The beeps echoed far too loud in the otherwise abandoned corridor and if BB-8 were capable of it, she would have visibly cringed.

 _We've got to be stealthy_ , Poe had said when they parted ways, and also, _no risky stunts, Beebs_. He hadn't needed to add that he couldn't stand to lose BB-8, it was a given between them that they couldn't stand to lose another.

Of course, that had been before BB-8 ran into _her_.

Gleaming black and grey, a red optic that gleamed smugly as it trilled a greeting.

BB-9E, right here in front of her in this corridor.

 _BB-9E is here!_ she sent to Poe and hoped that her message would reach her pilot in time. The possibility of what might happen if her warning came too late burned in her circuits like acid.

"Is Kylo Ren here?" she demanded, rolling forward a little in an aggressive display of _you better talk, or else_.

BB-9E rolled back, but she wasn't backing off. "As if I would tell you."

Her binary was as crisp and stern as everything about the First Order.

BB-8 shoved back the ache in her circuits, the memory files of better, happier times that threatened to replay. She didn't have time for melancholia. If BB-9E was here, Kylo Ren wouldn't be far away, and…

No. She couldn't afford to think about it.

"Get out of my way!" she demanded and picked up speed, fully determined to just roll over the other droid if need be. "I have to get to Poe!"

"No!" the black droid shrieked and planted herself firmly in the middle of the corridor. "Kylo said he wanted to be undisturbed."

That answered that. And a whole lot of other terrible things BB-8 had been too frightened to ask.

Poe was deep in the heart of the base, planting explosives in the main reactor of the First Order outpost while BB-8 had been on the way to the computer hub. Neither of them had expected Kylo Ren or BB-9E to be here, they shouldn't be here, the outpost was far too unimportant.

BB-8 forced herself to shut down all the processes that fed her growing fear for her pilot or fretted about how their mission could have gone so wrong. That didn't matter, they could run simulations once they were safely back in outer space. Nobody could beat Poe in the air.

BB-8 sped up.

The droids smashed into another with a loud metallic noise, shockers out and already rearing for action, every grasping attachment striving to tear into the other.

They tore into another with a viciousness that startled BB-8, one that would have also surprised most people who knew sweet, friendly BB-8. Not Poe, though, Poe would understand. Poe knew how vicious she could be when she was fighting to protect her loved ones.

BB-9E understood, too. She had once been one of these loved ones.

BB-9E had grown cruel since their ways had parted, just like her human partner had. She went for all the vulnerable spots she knew from a life when they had helped another with maintenance and entrusted all their secrets and vulnerabilities to another. She tried to hack into BB-8's systems and for a while, all the orange droid could do was to _defend defend defend_ with all she had, no thought for finding Poe or even for fighting back.

It was more a lucky break than skill that gave her the opening she needed, but that was often how it was in fights in which the opponents were evenly matched or knew the other's every move too well.

The base was rocked by an explosion, the lights flickered with a shower of sparks, and BB-8 had been expecting this – BB-9E had not.

Suddenly she was past a frizzing BB-9E and speeding down the corridor, uncaring of the damage reports her systems were sending. Rolling towards Poe.

"Beebs, clear our way!" Poe called over his comlink. He sounded out of breath and BB-8 could hear his pounding footsteps, but he was alive and alright and still running for freedom, so it was all good for BB-8.

BB-8 wasted no time finding a port to hack into, it was so nice of the First Order to have them all over the base for the convenience of their own droids and the occasional intruder. Doors opened in Poe's way and closed in the way of his pursuers. As an afterthought, BB-8 started the sprinklers in BB-9E's corridor and then she was off again.

They still had to flee the base, and she needed to know that Poe had come away unscathed.

It wasn't until they were both safe and snug in Black One in hyperspace, that BB-8 permitted herself to think of BB-9E again.

She gave a mournful little trill.

"Hey Beebs. Are you going to be okay?" Poe asked, sounding so soft and gentle that BB-8 wished she weren't nestled in her hold and could affectionately bump into his legs.

"It hurts," BB-8 admitted in muted, minimalistic binary, none of her usual playful trilling and chirping. "It was as if she didn't even remember me." She ran another diagnostic, which only confirmed what she already knew.

"But she did. She remembered how to hurt me."


End file.
